Heat Wave

HAMBURG: A heat wave increasingly threatens western Europe's grain crops, with France, Spain, the UK and Italy all facing reduced harvests, according to traders and analysts. "Cereals first suffered from frost in e winter, then came a dry spring that caused considerable damage and then there was the heat wave, which just fried many fields," Jean-Michel Delmas, head of the disaster unit at France's FNSEA farm union, said. He saw a clear loss in quantity and a drop in quality.

LONDON: During the current heat wave, it is important that all animals are kept cool to prevent discomfort and serious health problems. So, keep your pet hydrated and avoid the midday sun to make sure they stay safe in the summer months. Antoine Chabassol from Pawsomebox, a gift box subscription service, provides a few tips, reports femalefirst.co.uk. - When leaving your pets at home for the day, leave out a substantial number of water bowls on the floor to make sure your furry friend has a...

KOLKATA: The relentless rise in the mercury level across Gujarat and Rajasthan has left the castorseed crop high and dry. Badly affected by heat waves in those two major castor seed producing states during February and March, total castorseed production in the country is set to dip finally to 9.8 lakh tonne from the five-month old estimate of 11 lakh tonne. Seeing no signs of an immediate relief from the blazing sun in central and western parts of the country, the Solvent Extractors' Association...

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala State Disaster Management Authority will carry out a detailed study of the suspected 'heat wave' phenomenon which caused concern in the coastal areas of some parts of Kerala in recent days. KSDMA member-scientist Sekhar Lukose Kuriakose said an expert team would soon visit the place where the phenomenon was experienced and could give a scientific explanation only after that. However, he said prima facie evidence showed that...

BERLIN: Europe's heat wave has pushed the mercury to its highest level in Germany since measurements began in 1881. The country's national weather service says an automated measurement station recorded a temperature of 40.3 degrees Celsius (104.54 Fahrenheit) in Kitzingen, northern Bavaria, on Sunday afternoon. Weather service spokesman Uwe Kirsche said Monday that the record won't be official until technicians have manually checked the...

ISLAMABAD: A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban has warned it will target the country's main electrical company if it does not end power outages in the country's south where an intense heat wave has killed 860 people in the past week. Mohammad Khurasani , in a statement released Friday, expressed grief over the heat-related deaths in the southern port city of Karachi . The chronic power cuts in the midst of a record heat wave have also caused public...

HYDERABAD: Heat wave in several parts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh has claimed 153 lives so far even as people continued to reel under intense heat wave conditions, officials said today. As many as 73 persons died in Telangana and 80 deaths were recovered in Andhra Pradesh due to severe heatwave conditions prevailed in the two states, officials said. "73 persons died in Telangana as per the information received till last evening," Revenue Secretary B R Meena told...

NEW DELHI: The death toll due to intense heat wave sweeping across many parts of the country continued to mount and reached 1412 today, with only Andhra Pradesh and Telangana accounting for 1360 deaths. As per the latest figures, the toll due to heat wave in Andhra Pradesh stood 1020 while it was 340 in Telangana. While 168 deaths were reported in Andhra Pradesh since yesterday, 74 deaths were reported since yesterday. Two persons apparently died due to...

AHMEDABAD: Ahmedabad has become the first city in South Asia to come up with a Heat Action Plan (HAP), informing citizens about extreme climates in the near future and the necessary steps to tackle it. Temperatures in the city during summers in Gujarat have risen upto as high as 47 degrees resulting in deaths due to intense heat wave conditions and strokes. This Heat Action Plan, introduced last week by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), aims to provide a...

CHANDIGARH: Heat wave conditions continued to sweep swathes of Haryana and Punjab with maximum temperatures today again hovering between 41-44 degrees Celsius at most places, giving no respite to people. Chandigarh braved yet another hot day today as the maximum temperature settled at 41.6 degree Celsius, up three notches above normal, the MeT Department report said here. Hisar in Haryana was the hottest at 43.8 degree C, up two notches above normal while...

PUNE: Even as a 'weak' monsoon continued its slow progress northward, there will be no respite from heat-wave conditions for people in north and central India for the next few days, the India Meteorology Department (IMD) said in its weather bulletin. Maximum temperatures in many places in north, north-west and central India were between 47 degree Celsius and 48 degree Celsius. The maximum temperature in Delhi (Palam) was 47.2 degree Celsius on Friday. The IMD has...

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala State Disaster Management Authority will carry out a detailed study of the suspected 'heat wave' phenomenon which caused concern in the coastal areas of some parts of Kerala in recent days. KSDMA member-scientist Sekhar Lukose Kuriakose said an expert team would soon visit the place where the phenomenon was experienced and could give a scientific explanation only after that. However, he said prima facie evidence showed that the...

KARACHI: Pakistani officials say more than 100 people have died from heatstroke in the southern port city of Karachi in the last two days. Seemi Jamali, a spokeswoman for city's Jinnah Hospital , confirmed the deaths on Monday. She says hundreds more have been admitted to the hospital with heat-related ailments, including fever and dehydration. Karachi is in the grip of a rare heat wave, with temperatures soaring to 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees...

NEW DELHI: Surpassing all previous records, the peak power demand today touched 5,846 MW in the national capital, as Delhiites reeled under an intense heat wave conditions. Officials of the Delhi Power Department attributed the rise to the use of electrical appliances, especially power-guzzling air conditioners. The city had witnessed peak demand of 5,789 MW on July 11 last year. Peak demand touched 5,653 MW in 2013, 5,642 MW in 2012 while the demand was 5,028...

KOLKATA: Excessive heat in May and early June has hit tea consumption in western India, according to the Federation of All India Tea Traders Association . Association chairman Harendra Shah , who is also director of Mumbai-based packet tea company Girnar Group , said there has been a fall in consumption in the region. Parag Desai, executive director of Wagh Bakri, the country's third biggest packet tea company, said, "Generally, movement of tea slows down a bit...

LUCKNOW: The plains of Uttar Pradesh continued to reel under severe heat with weather remaining dr Met office today said that day temperatures fell in Bareilly division but changed little in the remaining divisions of the state. The day temperatures were appreciably above normal in Allahabad , Kanpur , Jhansi divisions, Varanasi, Moradabad, Agra divisions and normal in the remaining divisions across the...

NEW DELHI: Taking note of large scale deaths due to heat wave in various parts of country, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has asked a Group of Ministers ( GoM ) to discuss and decide on its inclusion as natural calamity. "A Group of Ministers (GoM) has already been constituted to look into the issue of inclusion of erosion as an eligible calamity. The GoM will also discuss and decide on inclusion of heat wave as natural calamity," Vice Chairman of National Disaster Management...

NEW DELHI: The death toll in the sweltering heat sweeping many parts of the country climbed to 1826 today, with 414 lives being claimed by the scorching sun in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana since yesterday. In Andhra Pradesh, the toll rose to 1334 today, 314 more than yesterday. The death figure in Telangana today stood at 440 against 340 yesterday. So far, 43 deaths have been reported from Odisha, 7 seven from Gujarat and two from Delhi. The Met department warned of continuance of the heat wave...

NEW DELHI: The intense heat wave sweeping across India could be another manifestation of an extreme weather event, a green body today said, warning that more heat waves were in the offing due to rise in global temperatures. Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) also noted that about 2,000 people have been killed in India by this weather condition with the worst-affected states being Andhra Pradesh and Telangana where maximum temperatures have hovered around a...